


finding our way home

by giftedsun



Series: discord prompts! [1]
Category: Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Confessions, F/F, First Kiss, just another ckrk from your local ckrk shipper, oh i love them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-02
Updated: 2018-06-02
Packaged: 2019-05-17 04:40:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14825417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giftedsun/pseuds/giftedsun
Summary: chikariko gets lost, together.





	finding our way home

**Author's Note:**

  * For [franchium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/franchium/gifts).



> "@emily how about ckrk meet as kids and only remember it after they both talk about "this person I met when I was young""  
> something i got a little carried away with! i love ckrk and so should you!

When Riko Sakurauchi is two and a half years old, she gets pushed down the slide for the first time. A giggle, the pressure of two hands on her back— the next thing she knows, she’s landed hard on the wood chips and her head is pounding. The world spins. Tears flow out of her eyes, her tiny fists curl up, and where is her  _ mom _ why isn’t anybody helping her what’s going on? Riko’s going to  _ scream _ , she’s going to pitch a fit, and nobody can stop her except— 

 

There’s a girl. Another girl her age, with shining eyes, who takes her hand and pats her shoulder and helps Riko stand back up. Mystery girl smiles, and then she’s gone. Or, rather, Riko’s mom finally finds her, sweeps her up in her arms, and all of the perceived trauma vanishes save for a medium-sized scar on her forehead.

 

The scar sits on her brow today— faded, but still visible. Riko parts her hair to cover it, puts a clip in, and there: she’s ready to go. 

“Rik- _ ooooo _ ! Come on, we’re gonna miss the bus!” A cheery voice chirps at her from downstairs, and Riko can’t help the smile that crosses over her face. Chika’s right on schedule, as she is most days— that is, on the mornings when she doesn’t oversleep due to an excessive consumption of idol material the previous night.

“Coming!” She shouts back. Chika’s waiting for her downstairs. She smiles once she sees Riko.

“Morning, Riko!”

“Hey! Good morning!”

The five-minute walk to the bus stop is one of Riko’s favorite parts of her day. Just the two of them— just Chika and Riko. They can walk and talk about anything, without having to worry about the rest of the world. This morning, the rain is coming down hard. 

“Ugh, let me get my umbrella out.” Chika shakes her head, droplets of rain flying off of her and onto Riko’s face. She produces a bright orange umbrella out of the depths of her schoolbag.

Riko does the same, but her search produces nothing. 

“Ah… Chika, I forgot mine. Let me just go back—”

“We’ll be late if you do that! Here, we’ll just squish! Don’t worry about it!”

Smiling softly, Riko takes the umbrella from Chika. The two girls huddle close under it, both hands meeting on the handle of the mikan-colored umbrella.

Suddenly, Riko is very,  _ very _ self-conscious about the place (or, rather,  _ places) _ where her body is meeting Chika’s. Their bodies are pressed together from shoulder to hip, and although Riko knows it’s just out of necessity— she just— she  _ just _ .

She knows that she’s in love with Chika. Riko’s known for a while; she’s even told Chika, point blank! Chika, being Chika, however, just brushed it off. They had hugged, and Riko had cried, and the next week Riko had gone to the piano competition in Tokyo, and they had never spoken of it again.

To Riko, this is an obvious sign that Chika wants nothing to do with her messy feelings. So she swallows down the lump in her throat and the two of them make it to the bus stop. The magic is officially ruined once You produces an extra umbrella for Riko. (“Chika always forgets hers,” She adds, with a chuckle, “I didn’t expect you to forget, though!”)

The school day passes without any advent: questions are asked, hands are raised, Chika attempts to eat three whole mikans at once.  They stay after, for practice, and the sky darkens. Aqours heads to a family restaurant for dinner.

Chika and You whisper to each other throughout the meal. At one point You pulls Yoshiko aside, and the two of then start giggling like crazy. Though she’s semi-participating in a conversation with Dia and Hanamaru, she can’t help but feel hopelessly, entirely out of the loop. 

Her hands start shaking a bit. Kanan, who’s seated next to her, notices and offers Riko a warm hand. She gladly accepts.

The meal is good, and the conversation is great. Though she worries about Chika and You’s conversation, Riko genuinely enjoys herself. She convinces herself to just forget about it, to put it out of her head, until they’re getting on the bus home.

Except, there’s no they. It’s just Chika and Riko— just the two of them.

“Wh-where are You? And Yoshiko?” She sputters out. This whole thing has Riko on edge, shaking, desperately trying to find a place where everything makes sense. She doesn’t like not knowing what’s going on.

“Ah, they’re staying behind for some… stuff! Riko, c’mon! I want to talk about something.”

Chika leads her to the back seat on the bus. It’s empty except for them. Riko can’t help but think that the fluorescent lights feel a little sacrilegious.

But there’s no more time to think on that because Chika’s warm thumb is running over the back of Riko’s clasped hands.

“Do you remember what happened last year? Right before the Love Live preliminaries?” Chika’s light has dimmed. Her face is serious, and her eyes bore into Riko’s. It’s all Riko can do to nod.

“I— you told me something then. You remember, right? Riko, you— you told me—”

She nods again. Somehow, tears are beading at her eyes. Is this a rejection?, she wonders. Riko doesn’t know.

“I remember what I told you— you don’t have to— It’s fine, Chika.” Her throat is raspy, and she has to avert her gaze from Chika’s eyes, instead focusing on her hands in her lap.

“No, Riko!” Chika takes her hand off of Riko’s, and forces her chin up. “I… You told that you loved me!” The fire drains out of her. “You told me that, and I couldn’t answer. I had to think about it— my feeling were so mixed up, so convoluted, and I didn’t want to give you some answer I only half meant.

 

but, Riko, I mean it now. I love you, Riko. I really do. And I know you told me that a long time ago, and it’s okay if you don’t feel the same, but— mmph!”

Riko laughs once, twice, and then pulls Chika in. Sure, they’re in the back of a bus; not the most scenic location for a first kiss. 

But it’s Chika and Riko. It’s the two of them, so it’s perfect.

After a second, they pull away. Riko giggles.

“Chika, how could I not feel the same? All I feel is the same. I’ve loved you since the day we met.”

Chika opens her mouth to reply. She's interrupted by the bus driver.

“Ma’am? We’re at the end of the bus line. You two are going to have to get off.” 

Riko buries her face in her hands. Chika pulls her up. They get off the bus hand-in-hand.

“Where are we?”

“Let’s find out!”

Chika takes off running, pulling Riko by the wrist.

“Chika, look! A playground!” Riko’s giddy. Butterflies are flying in her stomach, and her head is spinning, and whenever she looks at Chika she feels a million fireworks go off. The night is dark, but she feels safe with her hand wrapped around Chika.

They end up on the top of the play structure. Riko’s head is pressed against Chika’s chest as Chika leans against the wall when suddenly— 

“I’ve been here before.” Riko whispers into the cool air.”Wait, yeah, I’ve totally been here before!” She pushes herself up and turns to face Chika. “It’s where I got this!” She pushes up her fringe and gestures to the wide scar. “Some ridiculous girl pushed me off the slide— but it was really sweet, this other girl helped me up before my mom found me.” 

“Wait, Riko,” Chika’s eyes light up. Riko squeezes her hand. “That was me!”

“You helped me up?”

“Oh, no, I’m pretty sure… I think I may have pushed you.”

Riko’s face falls. Chika blushes profusely.

“I think… I think you may have had a picture of an orange on the back of your shirt, and I got excited, and I may have…”

Riko’s nose crinkles as she grins. She leans in and leaves a light kiss on the tip of Chika’s nose.

“You’re ridiculous.”

Chka beams back. “I try.”

Their hands intertwine once more. Chika’s lips grace the scar on Riko’s forehead. “Hopefully my childhood sins don’t ruin this.” She whispers into Riko’s forehead.

“Nothing could ruin this, Chika,” Riko whispers back.

So what if they’re lost, Riko thinks. 

She’s with Chika. They’ll always find their way home.

**Author's Note:**

> hi thanks for reading! drop a kudos or a comment if you liked it :eyes emoji: if you enjoy my work pls visit my tumblr (giftedsun.tumblr.com) or consider leaving me a ko-fi (https://ko-fi.com/giftedsun)


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